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OK Computer wins Radiohead a Grammy at a show they would not play
OK Computer won Best Alternative Music Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Wednesday 25 February, Radiohead's first Grammy. It beat Björk's Homogenic, David Bowie's Earthling, the Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole and the Prodigy's The Fat of the Land. The album was also up for Album of the Year and lost to Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind.
Radiohead did not play the ceremony. During the band's Australian tour), Thom Yorke told Richard Kingsmill of the Australian station Triple J that they had toyed with going on, playing “Exit Music (For a Film)” to a room that wouldn't get it and walking off, but decided it probably wouldn't translate on that stage.
No, we pulled out of that. They said we weren't good for the ratings, so we said OK. It was cool, man. We were so happy you wouldn't believe it.
Thom Yorke6
When the Recording Academy asked whether they would present an award to someone else instead, they said no.
They had already refused the Brits. On Radio 1's The Net on 7 January Ed O'Brien called the Brit Awards a ploy to keep record sales up at a quiet time of year. The next day The Independent counted Radiohead with Oasis and the Prodigy among the big bands who would not perform. All four of their Brit nominations, at the London Arena on 9 February, went to other acts, three of them to the Verve, while the band were in Australia.
Radiohead's awards nominations, early 1998
| # | Date | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 February 1998 | Brit Awards | British Group | The Verve |
| 2 | 9 February 1998 | Brit Awards | British Album (OK Computer) | The Verve, Urban Hymns |
| 3 | 9 February 1998 | Brit Awards | British Single (“Paranoid Android”) | All Saints, “Never Ever” |
| 4 | 9 February 1998 | Brit Awards | British Producer (Nigel Godrich and Radiohead) | Youth, the Verve and Chris Potter |
| 5 | 25 February 1998 | Grammy Awards | Best Alternative Music Performance (OK Computer) | Won |
| 6 | 25 February 1998 | Grammy Awards | Album of the Year (OK Computer) | Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind |
from the record
Paranoid Android · Magnus Carlsson's animation, made from the sound alone.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →